Director Adán Ruiz
Producer Yuli Rodríguez
Mexico
Synopsis
In the industrial town of Apaxco, surrounded by cement factories and mines, a biology teacher uses bones found in the surrounding fields to assemble a skeleton for his classes. Within this industrial landscape, a migrant searches for his missing daughter, a woman kills her husband after years of abuse, and a miner is slowly losing his hearing from the constant explosions. The skeleton becomes a silent witness to a territory devastated by exploitation and neglect.
Contact yuli.m.rodriguez@gmail.com
Director´s Biofilmography
Adán Ruiz is a producer and director who graduated from the National School of Film Arts. His work has been showcased in forums, galleries, museums, and national and international festivals, including the Morelia International Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, DocsMX, American Documentary Film Festival, and NFFTY, among others. He is the co-founder of Travesía Cine, a member of the executive committee of The Video Consortium, and Head of Production at Manantial.
Total budget € 515,980.94
Funds secured € 111,233.65
Objectives to be achieved
Our main goal at MAFF is to establish partnerships with international co-producers and collaborators interested in non-fiction and hybrid cinema with an author-driven and place-based approach. We aim to strengthen the financial and creative structure of The Valley of Echoes through co-production and post-production agreements, particularly in sound design, color grading, and final mix.
We also seek to build connections with sales agents, distributors, and festival programmers working with hybrid and creative documentary cinema, in order to define an international circulation strategy. Participating in MAFF represents a key opportunity to consolidate the production plan and position the project within the Ibero-American and international independent film landscape.
Co-production´s interesting countries
We are interested in establishing co-productions with European and American countries, particularly France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Canada, given their strong tradition of supporting non-fiction and hybrid film projects. France and Switzerland offer funds such as CNC–Aide aux cinémas du monde and Arte/ZDF, which promote socially engaged works with formal approaches aligned with The Valley of Echoes. Spain is a natural partner due to its cultural and linguistic proximity, while the Netherlands, Portugal, and Canada actively support auteur-driven projects that build bridges with Latin America. These collaborations would strengthen both the artistic and financial structure of the project while expanding its international reach.
PRODUCER’S BIOFILMOGRAPHY
Yuli Rodríguez has produced films such as Yo no soy guapo by Joyce García, Raká by Teresa Camou and Highway Nomads by Alberto Arnaut and José María Castro. She is the co-founder of La Furia Cine and Travesía Cine. She is currently the Executive Director of the Festival de Cine de Barrio (FECIBA) and a producer for Al Jazeera Spanish.
